Tag: California

A decision made during a California State Athletic Commission meeting in Los Angeles on Monday could have a major impact on the ongoing testosterone replacement therapydebate in MMA. Among the topics covered during the eight-hour session was a new proposed rule that would standardize the process for obtaining therapeutic use exemptions for testosterone. But the rule was successfully challenged by Department of Consumer Affairs lawyer Michael Santiago. As FightOpinion reports:

“[Santiago] said that until there is a statute/regulation on the books regarding testosterone that the commission should not be using an ‘underground’ policy of approving T usage. He argued that testosterone is considered a banned substance.

The end result is that fighters like Dan Henderson, Chael Sonnen, and Frank Mir will not be allowed to use testosterone while fighting in California until a law is on the books that explicitly spells out approval for T usage…[T]he UFC will be furious about this development given how many guys they have fighting in California who love testosterone. Vitor Belfort’s sympathy plea for continued testosterone usage means he won’t be fighting in California any time soon…

Bantamweights beware. Radames Garcia is looking to destroy your dreams. Ranked number one in the nation and sporting an amateur record of 9-1, all he is waiting for is a chance to make his pro debut.

“My last two opponents pulled out. My coach said one of them thought I was too big,” Garcia said.

The 29-year old native of Miami, Florida is fighting out of Cung Le’s gym in San Jose, California. In a little more than two years, Garcia managed to win two state titles in the amateur leagues of both California and Nevada.

Garcia first learned about MMA from a conversation with his co-worker. He invited Garcia to train with him at Tribull Mixed Martial Arts Center.

“At first, I thought it was illegal. I wanted to make sure it was legit. I had no clue about it at the time and I didn’t want the cops to bust down the doors and end up in jail,” Garcia laughed.

(CSAC boss George Dodd, everybody. Is it really surprising that a guy who dresses like a blackjack dealer would be responsible for blowing so much money?)

California’s state athletic commission is in big financial trouble and with it, the possibility of future MMA and boxing matches held in the state. At a meeting on Tuesday it was revealed that the CSAC, led by Executive Director George Dodd, is insolvent, and has been spending far more than it is bringing in through event revenue.

The budget officer for California’s Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA), Taylor Schick, released a memo with numbers detailing that if the commission continues on its current path it would face a deficit of nearly $700,000 by the end of 2013’s fiscal year. Such a deficit would force the state to stop putting on athletic events, including MMA and boxing contests, according to DCA director Denise Brown in a letter to Dodd.

“Without the ability to pay for even basic services, the Commission will have no choice but to cease operation immediately and cancel or postpone indefinitely all Commission regulated events,” she wrote.

Nick Diaz isn’t joking about how dangerous his hometown of Stockton, California is. A new report from Forbes (thanks to reader CMH for the find) named Stockton the fifth most dangerous city in the nation. Detroit is currently number one on the list, followed by Memphis, Miami, and Las Vegas. The weird part is, of all the five most dangerous cities, Stockton is the only one with less than a million people. We strongly suspect that it drops to ninth place on the most dangerous list when the Diaz brothers leave town for a fight, but could easily claim the top spot if they were to have sons. Handsome, articulate sons.

Does that mean that Diaz was jerking our collective chain about smoking weed up until the fight and using “herbal cleansers” to remove any trace from his system before the test, or does it just mean that Diaz has the hookup on the best herbal cleansers around? If we had to speculate (and we don’t, but we will, because that’s the kind of thing we do), we’d say it’s the latter. The world where Nick Diaz lies about his weed consumption is just not a world we want to live in.

So now who feels like a little bitch? Answer: the CSAC. Diaz beat them and Frank Shamrock all in one weekend. That’s a moral victory for potheads everywhere. It’s also enough to make you wonder about how effective the drug-testing system is in catching users of actual performance-enhancers. If they can’t nail Diaz, who laid out his plan for beating the test beforehand, can they reliably catch steroid-users?

Leopoldo claims that once he’s in charge he’ll allow the staff to stay in their positions if they cooperate with an FBI investigation, and says, “temporary executive officer Dean Lohouis isn’t any different than Armando [Garcia]. The CSAC needs change and I’m willing to provide therapy.”

Get it? “Kimo” therapy? Like the excruciating treatment for cancer patients? It’s a play on words.

The good news is Leopoldo would also like to bring his message of ‘I did steroids so you don’t have to’ to California high schools:

Only 15% of Stockton adults have a college degree, which is one of the lowest rates in the U.S. Unemployment is expected to hit 15% in 2010, while housing prices should keep falling back to their mid-1990s level when the median home price was $130,000.

Stockton also has problems with violent crime, and paradoxically has one of the longest average commute times while also having one of the highest unemployment rates, begging the question, where the hell are these people commuting to every day?

Say what you will, elitists at Forbes Magazine, Stockton is a great place to raise fighters. It’s also a good place to get bitten by a mean dog, or have your car stereo stolen. One man’s misery is another man’s home. Homey.

Fedor Emelianenko loves three things: competing in Sambo tournaments, eating two ice cream cones at once, and fighting in New Year’s Eve freak show matches in Japan. We know this about Fedor. We accept this about him. So that’s why when he appeared at Dream.6 and made comments about a potential NYE fight in Japan, we naturally wondered what that meant for his participation in Affliction’s second event in California. You know, the one that was “rescheduled” for January after a Fedor-less card failed to sell tickets in Las Vegas.

But Affliction VP Tom Atencio says not to worry. Fedor won’t be fighting in Japan on New Year’s Eve because Affliction has “extended his contract.” When asked if that meant Fedor was a lock for January 19, Atencio dropped this minor shocker:

“The date and location are not official,” Atencio said. “Everyone is tripping. Our next show will definitely be the 1st quarter of 2009 in January, possibly February. Nothing is confirmed though.”

Wait a minute, we’re tripping? Us, the people who think that maybe you should consider nailing down a venue, a date, and — dare I say it — even a fight card for the event you hope to sell tickets to? That’s “tripping”? Since when did Tom Atencio become a college sophomore at a Dave Matthews concert? We don’t mean to be a buzzkill or anything, but these are the kinds of details that could end up being pretty important down the road.

Not only is Nate Diaz one of the most exciting lightweights in the UFC, but the t-shirt designs on his website kick more ass than a no-hands triangle choke with double “F-you” fingers. If you’re a Diaz fan, you should definitely order one to cover your torso — or, you can win one in today’s caption contest. The two CagePotato readers who provide the best captions to the photo below will win a t-shirt of their choice from NathanDiaz.com. All entries must be submitted to the comments section of this post by Monday at 2 p.m. ET. Good luck out there, and always, always represent your area code.